Valentine's story
by Lychiis
Summary: I want to share a lovey-dovey story between the two main protagonists. But I am curious… what if the characters didn't have Alice, what if they were normal people but had the same background situations like the original story? … Sorry Permy, I know you were very fond of your specialty, but the reality of doing 'labor work' is also fun. No? PS: This will be only a short story.
1. Part 1

"Heeyy! Natsume wait up!" Ruka Nogi, a 13 year old, blonde hair with blue eyes yells out to his best friend while holding on to an eagle-like sport kite. He jumps through a window of a classroom when he eyes out a group of high schoolers trying to hide his best friend behind them. One of the high schoolers demands while crossing his arms:

"We won't give Natsume Huuga back if he doesn't pay up and apologize to us!"

"Stop it! Natsume is still ill from his flu shot! You guys are gonna kill him!" Ruka yells out out of worry. At that moment, Natsume, who was asleep in his sweat and tied up, awakes and cuts the rope around his wrist with a pocket knife. Once he is free, he gets the high schoolers' attention by saying:

"You want me right? leave my friend alone, or I will burn this guy's hair?" When the high schoolers turn around to Natsume, they see one of their friends tied like Natsume was and a tape over his mouth. Natsume with a stern voice and glares at the high schoolers with dark-cold-almost-black eyes, warns:

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way." The high schoolers freeze at the sight of his eyes.

"NOW!" They take their friend and all scurry away like hyenas.

"You are such a freak!" One of the high schoolers echoes in the hallway while running away.

Ruka lets out a big sigh and looks at Natsume. Natsume has his eyes closed and is breathing in and out slowly. Ruka rushes to him and asks:

"Are you alright? Need to go to the nurse's office?" Natsume opens his eyes, and it seems that his anger vanished into thin air. At that moment, they both hear someone skipping down the hallway, singing to a happy tune. When it stops, both of them look at the opened door and see a young girl with light brown braided hair, sparkling brown eyes and a pink childish dress. This girl looks across the room and sees Natsume and Ruka on the ground. She covers her mouth with both hands as if she were in shock.

"Let me tell a teach-" As she turns to run out, she bumps her head on the door and falls down. Both Natsume and Ruka look at each other and start giggling.

"How could she have not noticed that giant door?" Natsume asked rhetorically. Ruka giggles so hard that he laughs out loud. At that moment, a short dark haired girl peeks at the door, and asks quietly:

"Is it THAT funny?" She kneels down to her unconscious best friend. Natsume and Ruka stop laughing and walk over to the girls. Ruka asks:

"You're done your lunch then?" The short girl looks up to him and opens her mouth to see a cheese stick sticking out.

"I was just gonna head back to my lab when I heard someone laughing like a girl. Oh yeah!" She takes out a photo.

"I also took a photo." When she shows the photo to Ruka, his face becomes all red and yells out:

"How did you take that photo? Give me that photo, Imai!" And both the short girl and the blonde boy run out of the class. Natsume sighs as he picks up his beauty to the nurse's room.


	2. Part 2

In the nurse's office, Mikan Sakura is asleep in a bed. She wakes up to a crow singing outside. As she gets up, she freezes when she sees this messy black haired boy asleep. In her mind, she thinks:

_Why is Natsume sleeping on top of my bed? Why is he here? _As she tries to search for answers, Natsume dreams silently. In his mind, a nuclear explosion occurs in slow motion.

_Natsume sees a ghost dark figure wearing a white spooky-expression mask._

"_Nats-um-e, come closer, I have something important to tell you." The white spooky-expression masked figure says. Natsume walks closer to the nuclear explosion._

"_Wait! Don't get close to that! Don't you see black ashes coming towards you? You're gonna die." Someone in the crowd pulls his arm away from the explosion. Natsume looks back at the ghost figure. The ghost figure motions him to come closer._

"_I need to tell you something important. It's about the flu shot you got this morning." Natsume listens. "what injected into you wasn't the flu shot. Believe me. It wasn't the flu shot. It was a …" Natsume with his cold dark eyes has a stern voice and asks:_

"_What? Tell me what is it?" The ghost figure intercepts:_

"_If I tell you, would you promise to keep me alive?" Natsume agrees without hesitation._

"_It is a price you'll pay for the information I'm gonna tell you." The ghost figure informs Natsume with concern._

"_Yes. I know. I will keep you safe." Natsume affirms his duty._

"_Wait a minute, I don't even know you? Who are you?" Natsume asks suddenly. The ghost figure stays silent for a while but after a long pause. It says:_

"_Ok. This is what I'm gonna tell you. You were poisoned by a drug called Nicotine. The consequence of that is that you're life span has been cut in half. You will only be alive for another 7 years." Natsume gasps silently and curses under his breath. His thoughts swirl around until he makes them stop and asks:_

"_Why should I—" The ghost figure stops him with some "look-a-like fairy dust"_

"_I will help you. But there's another price to pay." Natsume asks._

"_What is it?"_

"_It's to find true love. If you can find THE one by Valentine's day, then I can grant you an extra 10 years of your lifespan."_

"_How can I trust you? I don't even know you." Natsume asks in astonishment._

"_You will soon find out who I am. But for now, I am your savior. Just remember that." The ghost figure yells out its final words._

Natsume hears a voice calling his name.

"Natsume! Natsume!" He feels his body being shaken back and forth. When he wakes up, he sees a blurry shining light until a head blocks the light.

"Natsume? Are you alright? We gotta head to class." Mikan still shakes Natsume's body.

"Alright alright! Let's get going." Natsume responds back and they both run to class as the bell begins to ring. Natsume hears an echo of the ghost figure saying:

"_I'm your savior."_


	3. Part 3

After class, Hotaru Imai looks around for Natsume. She thinks:

_Where is that fury-angered boy? I hope he's not in some big trouble. _She recalls the moment when it was 10 minutes before class ended and Natsume had sneaked out. When class ended, Mikan came running over to Hotaru crying out:

"I can't find Natsume anywhere! I need to find him. Hotaru, will you please help me?" At first, Hotaru ignored Mikan. But then Mikan started pulling her arms while crying out:

"Please! Please! PLEASE! Hotaru! I'm—" She was about to pull very hard on Hotaru's arms when Hotaru swept her hand across her desk and dust blew in Mikan's eyes. Hotaru stated:

"Please, don't make a scene in class. I've already heard enough." She got up from her desk and left the room. Mikan rubbed her eyes and whines:

"HOO-TA-RUUU! Was it necessary to get dust in my eyes?"

* * *

Hotaru searches for Natsume when she spots Ruka Nogi on the ground floor looking from side to side. Hotaru, who was on the second floor wants to call out his name but before she can, Ruka starts walking away.

_Oh, this is good! _Hotaru climbs down the stairs and secretly follows Ruka. While she takes out her camera she mutters to herself.

"This is certainly interesting. I bet I can get a million dollars for selling a photo of Ruka." When Hotaru spots Ruka again, she sees him hugging and cuddling a rabbit.

_Haha, this is a perfect chance to- _"Click!" Ruka and the rabbit suddenly alert and look around. Hotaru swears in her mind and quickly retrieves back to the classroom. Meanwhile, Mikan is still searching for Natsume.

"Natsume? Natsume?!" She asks some students from her class in the hallways, but nobody has seen him around. She is getting dizzy looking at the narrow hallways that she decides to run outside. As she catches her breath outside, she looks around and sees Natsume sitting against a tree reading a book. Mikan walks up to him angrily and asks:

"Can I sit here?" Natsume responds back:

"Do whatever you want."

"Fine." Mikan sits on the other side of the tree and sighs. After a moment of silence, she asks.

"Why did you skip the last 10 minutes of class?" Natsume doesn't respond.

"You know I've been looking for you for a while now. You could at least give me an answer." Natsume still doesn't respond.

"Why are you alone?" Mikan asks curiously. Natsume ignores her.

"Natsume? Earth to Natsume!?" Mikan gets annoyed. She gets up from her side of the tree and stomps over to his side, kneels down and asks:

" Do you hate me?" This is when Natsume stops reading his book and looks up. He sees Mikan staring at him. He leans in. But Mikan falls over. Natsume drops his book and tries catching her. However, he also slips and falls on to Mikan.

"Ughh" When both of them open their eyes, Natsume sees Mikan's cream chocolate eyes staring back at him. He almost sees his reflection in her eyes. "Why did you want to find me?" Natsume asks playfully.

"Oh, no reason." Mikan blushes.

"It's just that… I was worried about you. You know, in the hallways, I imagined a black cat caged in the dark. I got scared."

"It's alright! You're with me now." Natsume tries to soothe her.

"Yes." Mikan quietly confirms. It seems like Mikan's eyes are glowing in Natsume's perspective. There is a moment when it feels like they are alone in their own world. When abruptly, a voice breaks the moment:

"Hey! Natsume! How's it going?" Natsume looks up and quickly gets off of Mikan. Mikan also gets up , turns her back around and tries to look for Natsume's book. Natsume walks to his friends and salutes:

"What's up?" As they chat a bit, Mikan wants to leave when Natsume stops her.  
"Where are you going?" Mikan is surprised.

"I thought you were talking to your friends?"

"I was. Now I'm done." Natsume says.

"Well, I have to find Hotaru now. So see y-" Mikan makes up an excuse.

"No you don't. You're coming with me." Natsume intercepts and grabs her arm.

* * *

Natsume brings Mikan to a garden area in the back of the school.

"Let me go! I gotta tell Hotaru that I've found you." Mikan argues. When Natsume releases Mikan's arm, she looks at the garden and exclaims:

"Wow! So pretty!" Mikan runs into the flower bed and becomes fascinated by the different types of flowers. Natsume secretly smiles as Mikan's expression changes from looking frustrated to smiling so naturally. Natsume murmurs to himself:

"She's my light." Mikan meets Natsume again after running around in the flower bed picks out a pink flower.

"Natsume? How do you know this place?" Mikan asks while smelling the pink flower. Natsume answers haughtily.

"I'm just awesome like that. Polka-dots?" Mikan suddenly embarrassed, drops the pink flower and touches her dress.

"How did you know?" Natsume giggles and wraps his arm around her and whispers in her ear:

"I just guessed." Mikan suddenly is furious. But before she asks another question, Natsume opens a door to a greenhouse and Mikan is flabbergasted that all of her anger wash away. They both walk in. Natsume brushes a strand of Mikan's hair. Mikan jerks away in shock.

"what was that?" Natsume says:

"I wanted to touch your hair." Mikan becomes annoyed.

"Seriously?" Natsume comments:

"I know you liked the way I touched your hair." Mikan puts her hand on her heart. She feels like her heart is pumping a bit too fast. Natsume walks towards Mikan and compliments her.

"You're sparkling, don't look away!" Once Natsume is a centimeter away from Mikan, he brushes away another strand of Mikan's hair and leans in to give a sour but sweet kiss. Mikan tastes his lips and kisses him back. She feels her heart pumping so hard that it might almost burst. After the kiss, both of them back away and out of breath. They are amazed and at the same time, speechless.

Mikan hugs Natsume and places her head on his chest.

"You're heart is beating as fast as mine." Mikan says with a red face while listening to his heart.

"And you smell like sunflowers Mikan." Natsume says back.

They embrace for a bit longer before they hear a knock on the greenhouse door.


	4. Part 4: (end)

The door opens and Hotaru enters.

"Ah. I found you." Hotaru points a what-looks-like a gun at Natsume.

"Hotaru! What are you doing?" Mikan asks with concern.

"It won't kill him. I just need to do this. Don't move!" Hotaru shoots and a needle comes out with a rope attach to the gun that Hotaru holds. The needle hits Natsume's neck, and he becomes unconscious.

"NOOOO! Natsume!" Mikan cries out.

"Hotaru! Why did you do that?" Mikan asks while staring at the needle. Hotaru runs towards them.

"Don't worry Mikan, I just made him unconscious. I need to do this quickly before anyone comes here. Mikan, can you guard the door?" Just by a look in Hotaru's eyes, Mikan believes her best friend. She gets up and walks out the door.

Hotaru closes her eyes and meditates for a moment. During that meditation, she meets Natsume.

"_Natsume? Can you hear me?" Hotaru tries to speak through her mind. In her mind, she is in a blank space-like universe. She suddenly hears a grumbling sound._

"_Natsume?"_

"_I'm here." Hotaru distinguishes Natsume's shadow and then his body._

"_Natsume!" She goes to him and kneels down.  
_

"_Where are we? Why did you shoot me?" Natsume asks. Hotaru answers while looking around._

"_I think we are in your mind or in my mind, either way we can't really make out anything here. It's just whiteness all around." Hotaru answers honestly._

"_I see." Natsume tries to get up._

"_Don't! The poison is still inside of you."_

"_How do you know about the poison?" Natsume asks in confusion._

"_I can see your soul. Also, I'm here to pay my side of the bargain. Remember the deal?"_

"_The deal? I had a deal with the ghost figure! It wasn't with you!" Natsume retorts._

_Hotaru takes out the mask of the ghost figure wears it and says:_

"_I'm your savior." Natsume is surprised. He remembers well what the ghost figure had said. He asks curiously._

"_That means that… I have to save your life as a price to pay for curing me?" Hotaru doesn't say anything. She holds the needle for it to not leave Natsume's body. Natsume twitches a bit and demands:  
_

"_What are you doing? You gotta take that out of me. I'm twitching because of it." Hotaru ignores his demand but answers his question:_

_"For your information, the needle is a shot of anti-poison that I created based on my observations of your actions in the past few weeks. It's to drain all the poison in your body." Hotaru pauses for a minute and then continues:_

"_In a way, your soul was turning black and a symptom of nicotine is that you got angry more frequently than usual." Hotaru explains. Natsume looks at Hotaru like a stranger._

"_Who are you? How do you know all of this?" Natsume asks. Hotaru responds back:_

"_I'm the same Hotaru as you've known me in class… I just have a hobby that nobody knows about except you." Hotaru smiles for a bit. _

_"Don't tell Mikan. She'll freak for sure." Natsume nods. When Hotaru starts getting this shimmering feeling on her hand she says:_

_"Take care of Mikan for me." Natsume becomes confused. But when he looks at Hotaru, he sees her fading away. Natsume who is still lying down tries to get up. He takes the needle and is about to pull it out._

"_No! Don't do it. You need it." Natsume quickly takes out his pocket knife and cuts the rope attached to the needle. Suddenly everything becomes blurry.  
_

* * *

Hotaru's body appears again and the scene changes to the greenhouse garden. Natsume looks down at his arm and sees that the needle is out of his body.

Hotaru wakes up and looks around for a moment. She remembers to take out a pair of what-looks-like-sun-glasses and monitor Natsume. She gasps:

"Wow! I can't believe it was a success!" Natsume looks surprised but also confused. When Hotaru looks at Natsume's expression, she takes off her glasses and looks amused.

"You're soul has a light pink color now. It wasn't there before." Hotaru informs Natsume. She adds.

"You're in love."

"hm!" Natsume looks away. Hotaru without another word reaches her hand for his. Natsume sees that, and they shake hands. Suddenly, Hotaru remembers Mikan.

"Oh yeah! Mikan! Mikan? Are you still out there? You can come in now." There is no response. So Natsume and Hotaru look outside of the greenhouse. They see Mikan peacefully asleep.

"I guess, it took longer than it should have." Hotaru states under her breath. She looks at Natsume and then at Mikan. She thinks that without those two, she wouldn't be able to be who she is now. Meanwhile, Natsume looks at Mikan in a calm expression and under his breath, he says:

"I'm back."

The end!

* * *

**SIDE NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:** This story is really a Valentine's special. Originally, I thought of making a mundane story. No supernatural. But as I was writing, I somehow made it magical and beautiful. Thank you for reading this story. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as me writing about it. :)


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